A Change of Plan
by Princessmeg8989
Summary: In the Harry Potter story we know, Harry was neglected by the Dursleys and saw Hogwarts and Dumbledore as his saviors. Well, what if the story went a bit differently? Say Petunia was nice to him and he had a happy childhood. Say Vernon chose to expand his company to a nearby country? Say that country was Ireland, and their school got to him first. Then what would happen?
1. A Change Of Plan

**A Change In Plans**

Harry Potter was a happy, normal boy. Or well, mostly normal and usually happy, after all nobody is really normal as everyone is quite different and everyone has their bad days. The little boy himself however, was a surprise to both his guardians and the neighbourhood and left them gossiping for weeks.

Petunia Dursley, his aunt, was horrified to see a child on her doorstep that fateful November morning, and after quickly reading the letter left with her nephew decided there was only one thing to do; raise her sister's child to be as normal as possible and hope he wouldn't follow in his parents footsteps. That decision, of course led to quite the argument with her husband, Vernon Dursley, but in the end it was decided that Harry's upbringing would be left to Petunia and Vernon would just ignore the boy that was living the spare 2nd bedroom.

Of course the next few days followed their son and Harry's cousin Dudley Dursley pinching and prodding at the strange new person in his house, stealing his Mum's attention. Everytime Petunia saw such a thing however, she told her son to play nicely or she would, following the neighbours example, put him on the "naughty step". Dudley quickly decided to leave the strange boy alone.

Over the next few years, Harry had a normal life and when he was four he started primary school alongside his cousin, and everything went well until the parent-teacher meetings.

Petunia attended and was pleased to hear how well her nephew was doing, how he near top of the class and how he had made friends with some of the other children. What she was not pleased to hear was how bad her son was doing and how he was bullying the other students. When she shared this news with Vernon, at first he was convinced that "the little freak must have done something" and wanted to lock him in the cupboard under the stairs. After a long talk with his wife and a threat involving a rolling pin in an...unpleasant area he soon reconsidered and decided they could just about afford to get Dudley a tutor for the next year to get him up to date and some anger management sessions. Some changes to their budget had to be made, but they wanted both the boys to be healthy, productive members of society and the cutting back on bad foods was worth it in Petunia's eyes.

Life continued on for the next few years, Dudley learning to manage his anger and become friends with the other children, him and Harry becoming quite close because of them being in the same class, and could often be seen out at the park together or playing video games at home. Then, about a month before Harry's 11th birthday, Vernon got made an offer he couldn't refuse.

* * *

Vernon Dursley came home from work and instantly called for a house meeting. When everyone was sitting down in the living room, he began to speak.

"As you all know, Grunnings has been thinking of expanding into other countries recently," he paused to look at his family's reactions before continuing. "And I'm pleased to announce that such a thing has been made possible."

"Oh Vernon that's wonderful news," aunt Petunia said as shot up from her seat to give him a kiss on the cheek and a hug.

"It doesn't end there, I'm afraid." he took and deep breath and carried on. "The country we're expanding into is the Republic of Ireland."

Silence followed his statement and he quickly continued before anyone could voice their concerns.

"The Irish economy is strong right now, so their giving pretty big tax breaks to any company sets up business there. I'll also receive a larger paycheck as I'll be the director of two different branches. So far we have a license for 5 years, after that we'll either renew it or shut up operations and move back over to England."

"But Vernon, what about the IRA?" Petunia asked, almost whispering the last part. Vernon smiled in what Harry supposed was meant to be a comforting way.

"I'm afraid it's a risk we'll just have to take."

A week later, the Dursley/Potter household were in the Republic of Ireland.

* * *

Harry settled in quite quickly to their new house, and after a few days could be seen with the other children on the road on the weekend. The two that he seemed to be friendly with first however was a 13 year old boy called Thomas Murphy and one of his siblings called Laura, who had just turned 11. They took him and Dudley under wing and introduced them to everyone else, while also teaching him about different games that everyone liked to play, like cerbs, rounders and both of the G.A.A sports. Petunia was glad to see how happy her son and nephew were, but that all changed a week before Harry's 11th birthday.

The family was in the kitchen eating breakfast, when there was a knock on the door.

"Harry, would you go get the door please?" asked Petunia as she barely looked up from her plate.

"Yes Aunt Petunia." Harry pulled back his chair and out the room, following his aunts requests, only to find a stranger behind the door.

The man had black hair, and blue eyes and he was smiling down at Harry. He was dressed pretty well too, wearing a wool black coat over a white shirt, and a pair of black leather shoes.

"Ah, isn't it?" the man asked and Harry gave a reluctant nod.

"Yes sir. How can I help you?" the man just kept smiling at him.

"My name is Seán Rafferty, Principle of Acadamh na hÉireann le Draíocht and I would like to extend an offer for you to join our school."

"...Aunt Petunia!" Harry called as he looked over his shoulder for her. "Somebody's here to offer me a place at their school!"

Petunia looked up from her spot of the table caught Vernon's eye, where he was slowly starting to turn red.

"...Bring him in then, I'll talk to him with you in the living room." she quickly turned to Vernon. "Don't worry dear, if he's from that Hogwarts place there is no way hes going." Vernon nodded his approval.

"Come in then, sir." Harry said pushing the door open wider and the man nodded his thanks.

When Petunia came into the room the first thing she said was "If you're from that Hogwarts place, there is no way my nephew is going with you. He is going to receive a good, normal education."

The man, Principle Rafferty, blinked and shook his head while Harry looked on in confusion. What was Hogwarts?

"No, I'm from an Irish school, Acadamh na hÉireann le Draíocht. We unlike Hogwarts, teach non-magical subjects-"

"He will not be attending magical school!" she told him firmly and he frowned at her.

"But he needs to learn to control his magical core." he explained calmly, while Harry watched the conversation continue for a moment before he decided to stop it.

"Stop fighting!" he said loudly, and both adults turned to look at him. "First, Aunt Petunia, let's listen to what he says first and then we can make a decision." she frowned but nodded. That was the best she would get she supposed. "And Mr...Rafferty right?" at his nod Harry continued. "What do you mean 'magical core'?"

He sighed. "You didn't tell him anything?"

"The letter that came with him told us not too. I hoped that by not talking about it he might not turn out like his mother or no-good-father." she responded with a shrug.

He decided to put that first bit of information away for later and launched into an explanation of his fame and what Hogwarts was before he came to his own school.

"My school, Acadamh na hÉireann le Draíocht, was founded in the 1920's after the Republic was formed. Originally, it was meant to serve as a place to unify the Republic and up North and teach our children together in a safe environment. After a while we decided to add non-magical, or muggle as most of wizarding britain call normal people, to our curriculum as some children simply weren't being thought enough at home to be at the level needed to structure an essay correctly or how to understand the science behind non-magical inventions, something that is becoming more necessary by the day. Recently we've also opened our doors to any sorcerer in Europe, Australia and Britain who wishes to join us, and certain magical creatures."

"What magical creatures? Where is it? What will I be learning? Why don't Americans go to the school as well?" Harry rapidly asked the man, excited about such a place existing. His aunt Petunia sighed, and inwardly resolved to let the boy attend if they covered enough for him to go to college afterwards so that he could leave the wizarding world and get a normal job if he wanted, unlike her sister who got trapped in there when she was Harry's age.

"Wow, slow down kid. Give me a chance to answer," the Principle joked. "We let leprechauns, elves, werewolves and veelas attend. Starting this year we will also allow squibs to attend, who are like the reverse of your mother Harry, a non-magical born to magical parents. The school itself is in Tara, and you'll be learning the core subjects of Maths, History, Geography, English, Irish, Science, C.S.P.E, Transfiguration, Charms and Defense Against The Dark Arts. After that you will select 5 electives to take, 2 magical and 3 non magical, and next year you will drop 2 and continue a total of 13 subjects for your Junior Cert Course. Here, this is the letter explaining subjects and extracurricular activities." He pulled out a letter detailing school equipment and a pamphlet describing everything else he would need to know, including subject choices.

Harry took it and glanced at the list but before he read it the Principle kept explaining.

"At the end of your acceptance letter is a spot for you and your guardian to sign as well as say which subjects you want to take. Normally you post it back but you can just give it to me seeing as I'll be back tomorrow to get your school supplies with you. And as to your last question, the reason is quite simple. Americans don't trust non-magicals in the slightest and by extension don't trust muggleborns very well, and while we do have wards that prevent physical bullying, we won't be able to prevent verbal bullying. We would rather not take the risk with having British students and American purebloods in the same school either. That's just asking for a disaster to happen."

Harry nodded and sat back in his chair to look at the pamphlet and his aunt joined him.

"Well, I need to head of now, but if you think of anymore questions I'll be back tomorrow at 11:00 a.m to get Harry if that's okay with you?" When she nodded in reply the man disappeared with a small crack and the two of the returned to the pamphlet.

* * *

 _ **Core Subjects**_

 ***These subjects are mandatory and must be taken by every student until he/she has taken the Junior Certificate Exam.***

Transfiguration

Charms

DADA

Maths

English

Irish

Civic, Social and Political Education **(C.S.P.E)**

History

Geography

Science

 _ **Choice**_ _**Subjects**_

 ***O.W.L Students please choose 2 magical subjects and 3 non-magical subjects***

 _Magical_

Potions **(This also include Herbology as both subjects go hand-in-hand together)**

Ancient Runes

Arithmancy

Spell Creation **(4th years and up only, only if Ancient Runes and arithmancy was taken)**

Rituals and Blood Magic **(4th years and up only, only if Ancient Ruins and Potions was taken.)**

Alchemy **(4th Years and up only, only if Arithmancy and Potions was taken.)**

Druidic Magic **(4th years and up only, no pre-required subject)**

Divination **(Only if proven seer)**

Warding and Curse Breaking **(4th years and up, Rituals and Blood Magic or Spell Creation recommended)**

Care of Magical Creatures **(2nd and 3rd year course)**

Healing **(4th years and up, potions necessary along with at least an A in Charms)**

 _Non-Magical_

Classical Studies

Physical Education

Religion

French/Spanish/Italian/Japanese **(One Language Only)**

Technology

Art

Music

Home Ec.

Graphical Design

Ancient Greek **(not if taking Classical Studies or Latin)**

Latin **(not if taking Classical Studies or Ancient Greek)**

Jewish Studies **(Junior Cert Level only)**

Business Studies

 ** _Extracurricular_** _ **activities**_

 ***These are all optional clubs that the school offers that can be joined or quit at anytime.***

Homework Club

Dueling Club

Scouts

Quidditch

Hurling/Camogie

Football

Soccer

Rounders

Debate

Basketball

Field Hockey

Drama

Choir

Orchestra

Radio

Potions

Karate

Chess

Tag Rugby

Rugby

* * *

After looking at the list, Harry felt a bit overwhelmed, he looked at his aunt, who had just finished reading before him.

"Can I? Can I? Can I pleaseeee go Aunt Petunia?" he begged and she glanced at the pamphlet again. The school seemed decent enough and actually gave the children a choice in what careers they want to take, and the selection seemed decent enough...

"All right, but if you ever want to drop out, say the word." Harry's grin brightened up the whole room and he ran of to get a pen to fill in the form as fast as he could.

* * *

 **A.N: Hey guys! I just was looking for fanfiction where Harry moves to a different country and chooses to attend their school. Seeing as I'm Irish and still in school myself, I thought this would be fun for an idea. Still don't know when or if I'll post another chapter but hey, any suggestions or reviews are welcome :)**

 **A.N 2: I keep updating the list of subjects and clubs here so if I reference them in later chapters and you haven't checked over this chapter since an update then just remember that I probably added it later.**


	2. Erins Avenue

**Chapter 2: Erin's Avenue**

Harry took suggestions to heart, and wrote down any questions that his mind came up with for the rest of the day to ask the next day, when they would go to get his new supplies. He had also thought about which subjects he would take, and while he could reach a conclusion with the non-magical subjects, he had no idea what to take for magical subjects.

Harry had chosen subjects that sounded interesting to him, or useful starting with Technology. He knew that computers where becoming more and more common, and he was quite interested in the subject too, so he wrote that down as his first subject. Then he thought about what his favourite subjects were in primary school and decided that Classical Studies sounded like it would be interesting, and if it included Ancient Greek and Latin in the subject like the list suggested then he would be learning 3 subjects in 1. The last subject he chose to take was Japanese for a two reasons. 1: It was becoming a major business language 2: He could buy games in from Japan to play before they came out in Europe, if they ever did. Admittedly, the second reason was a bit selfish but hey, that was human nature.

Harry decided to just get Aunt Petunia to sign the form before he went to bed, and ask tomorrow what magical subjects would recommend.

The next morning, came to get Harry at the promised hour of 11:00 a.m. A ring of the doorbell announced the family to his arrival.

"I'll get it!" the excited wizard yelled, as he jumped up from his chair in the living room and ran for the door. Petunia and Dudley just shook their heads in amusement.

When Harry opened the door, there stood in clothing nearly identical to what he wore yesterday and the same grin was smiling down on Harry.

"Good morning. Are you ready to go?" he asked and Harry responded with an enthusiastic nod.

"Please sir, call me Harry, but yes, although I have a question first." he seemed a bit hesitant to add the last bit to his sentence.

"Only if you call me Seán then, at least while not on school grounds," He smiled at the boy, that seemed to be his trademark thing. "Ask away, Harry."

"Well, I was wondering if..." he glanced behind them at his family. "Can my cousin Dudley come too?"

The headmaster glanced over at the boys family and saw a look of shock on the blonde boys face. He wasn't expecting that question either then.

"Of course he can, so long as he has his mothers permission. As a matter of fact, she can come along too if she wants." was the reply, as he gave both relatives a smile.

Aunt Petunia shook her head. "Of course Dudley can go, so long as you keep a close eye on him. And Dudley," she turned to look at her son. "Don't tell your father about this."

"Thanks mum!" and the boy ran off, probably to get his coat the Principle presumed.

"What about you?"

"I'm afraid not, Mister-" She paused seeing his look- "Seán. The wizarding world brings up bad memories. I'd rather stay at home and get some work done."

He smiled at her. "That is perfectly understandable."

When Dudley returned the three waved goodbye and walked down the road, led by the Irish wizard. He led them to a secluded enough area where nobody was around and turned to face the boys.

* * *

"Now, I'm going to apparate us to Diagon Alley, the English shopping district. The branch of Gringotts, that is to say the wizarding bank, that houses Harry's vault is there and we need to withdraw some money from there. Then we'll probably take another form of wizarding transportation back to Dublin to get everything else. Is that alright with you two?" Both boys nodded their consent although Harry did ask what apparition was, to which Seán grinned mischievously and told them to close their eyes, hold on to his arms tight and try not to get sick on his new shoes.

"I am never doing that again." Harry stated once he recovered enough from the terrible journey.

"You get used to it." was the only response he got, accompanied by a smile and a shrug.

"Don't care. Never again." Dudley nodded in agreement with his cousin.

"Suit yourself. Come along now, time to head inside."

It was only when he said this that the boys realised where they were and looked around the street in awe, as they followed the teacher into a large marble building with a rather interesting poem on the pillars outside it. Both of them came to the conclusion that this was the bank.

When they walked inside they were greeted by the sight of tiny creatures behind desks taking the place of bankers. The two boys turned to look at their guide who answered their question before they asked it.

"Goblins." which in reality left them with even more questions than before.

The trio walked up to a free one that Seán spotted, and the goblin looked up from his paperwork as they approached.

"I'm here to withdraw money from vault on his behave for school-related shopping." the man told the creature and it looked over its glasses at Harry.

"I see, and does he have his key?" Harry gulped, the way the goblin was staring at him was creeping him out.

"No, as he was never given one. I would also like to ask for a replacement key and for any old ones to be destroyed."

The goblin nodded and got of his chair and left to get something. He returned with a copper bowl and a sewing needle.

"To prove your identity please prick your finger and allow a few drops of blood to fall into this bowl."

Seeing the encouraging face of his future Principle he nodded and did as instructed. A few seconds a small ding was heard as a puff of green smoke appeared above the bowl. He handed it back to the waiting goblin.

"I shall go get your new key Mister Potter. Try not to lose it."

A few minutes later Harry had his key and was heading down to his vault with the help of the same goblin, Firesword.

Once he was down there he was advised to take about 200 of the gold ones, about 68 silver ones and about 29 bronze ones. He did as told and had the currency explained to him as he filled the pouch Firesword had provided. He was told he had taken out about 1500 euro worth of money and that should be more than enough for his supplies.

The trio then took the rollercoaster back to the lobby again and were led to a chimney, where they were taught how to use floo powder. Harry went through first, then Dudley and finally Seán to the location he told them to visit "Erin's Avenue".

* * *

When Harry got to Erin's Avenue he looked around in confusion. At first glance where he had landed looked similar to the pictures he had seen of Grafton Street, until he noticed the names of the shops. None of them seemed out of place until he noticed names like "O'Connell's Staffs and Wand" and "Apothecary And More", some signs even said things in a different language that he couldn't read.

Dudley got shot out behind him and nearly shoved Harry to the ground when he fell out. The two laughed over it but quickly got out of the way so that the mistake wouldn't be repeated. Soon enough, their guide appeared and asked Harry what subjects he had selected so that they could get started on the books before going for some lunch.

When Harry said he couldn't choose a magic subject, Seán told him that he could have a look at the magic schoolbooks needed for each class and go from there.

And so, the three were of once more to a new place.

It turns out the shop they were heading of to was on of the ones with a weird sign on it, as they walked in Seán didn't even glance at the sign.

"Um, Seán?" Harry asked him.

"Yes Harry?" the man stopped in front of the door to look at the boy.

"What does that sign say?" He pointed at the store sign and the teacher face-palmed.

"Ah, I'm sorry Harry, I forgot to tell you that quite a large portion of Irish wizards speak Irish as their first language, if for no other reason to annoy the English Ministry workers. To answer your though, it just says 'The Quiet Corner'."

"Wait does that mean I'll have to speak Irish at school?"

"In some classes. I can't believe I forgot. Oh well it doesn't really matter much anyway. We'll buy you a Language Potion later and you'll be grand." And with that the door to the shop opened and they all shuffled inside.

The shop was quite big actually, despite the outward opinion, and it soon became apparent that the first floor was all Fantasy, Fiction, Biography and every other genre you could think of, while the second floor was for school-related items and contained an area to read as well.

Pulling out his list, Harry headed upstairs and started grabbing books for his class work with the help of the teacher. Most were for non-magical subjects like "Maths in Action 1" or "Complete Junior Certificate History: Magic Edition" and "Iontas 1" for his Irish class. For his magical subjects he had "How Defence is the Best Offence" and "Very Charming". He also picked up the books for his choice subjects, before he started looking through the magical electives textbooks.

He fingered his way through "A Complete Guide To Potions and Plants" and decided that the subject seemed useful to know and so added it to the list of subjects he would be taking come the end of August. The next book was "Arithmancy: Numbers and Their True Meanings" and Harry was sad to say it didn't sound interesting. From what he could understand it was live a fortune telling maths class, which did not sound useful at all. Harry briefly consider looking at the Divination book, but realised that he probably wasn't a seer, from Seán's description of one anyway. The last book was for Ancient Runes called "Ceilteach, Lochlannach agus Runes hÉigipte Chun Bunrang". The entire book was in Irish but Seán read bits out to him in English and he decided that this subject was much more interesting than Arithmancy. He added the final subject to his list and gave his form to Seán, who tucked it in his pocket.

He also joined Dudley downstairs, who was looking at numerous Fantasy and Children's books. After seeing some that looked interesting, he decided it would be a good idea to buy some of them as well. Some books were similar to legends that Harry would have grown up with, like "King Arthur and Merlin: Tales of Camelot", but others where stories he'd heard of but never read, such as "Fionn MacCool and Other Irish Tales". Then he noticed one called "Tales of Beedle the Bard", which was a book of wizarding tales nearly equal to Cinderella or Snow White in the non-magical world in popularity.

As he wandered around the shop, Harry noticed a section titled "Wizarding History". Deciding it would probably be a good idea to learn some more about this new world he was in, Harry began to read over book titles and look for one that would tell him the basics of the last century or so, so that he wouldn't be completely ignorant of wizarding society. While doing this, he spotted something that made him frowned, and he reached for the box set of books.

"What the-?" he muttered to himself as he read the titles, "Harry Potter and the Guardians of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Werewolf's Curse, Harry Potter and the Dragon Escape?".

He looked up to search for his cousin and guide, and spotted them near the checkout waiting on him. He quickly ran over and showed them what he found.

"I've never seen these books before I'm afraid, although if I had to guess it's probably an English book." was all the man could say as he examined the blurb. "The real question is, who would actually believe that a 4 year old could summon a patronus and that a 7 year old would kill a werewolf?"

"But it's not true! There must be something I can do to stop them printing this..." Harry trailed of and looked to his teacher for advice.

"Sure you could," the man shrugged. "You would easily be able to win a lawsuit if you filed one, write a letter to Gringotts and ask for a meeting with their barrister, they'll sort the issue out for you in no time."

And so Harry resolved to do just that, and after paying for his rather large collection of books (that was mostly made of books he thought looked interesting ) was told to stay put as Seán went to get something.

A moment later the man returned, holding a blue, oddly shaped vial. When Harry asked what it was for, the only reply he got was a wink, before they were being shuffled into a building labeled "Jackson's Food and Inn".

It turned out to be a pub of sorts, with a barman working a, well a bar on the right side of the room, and numerous tables with laughing people and creatures talking with their friends and families. There was a stage that was empty, but the chalkboard beside it listed times and dates for other shows.

The were shuffled into a corner table, and instantly a menu appeared before all of them.

"Wow," breathed Harry and Dudley before they quickly read through their options.

There was the usual enough choices like burger and chips, or some pepperoni pizza, and some things they had never heard of before, like butterbeer and pumpkin juice. In the end, Harry and Dudley just ordered burger and chips and pumpkin juice, while Seán only ordered butterbeer and soup.

When their food arrived Seán got the blue vial out and quickly added some to Harry's drink.

"What is that?" Harry asked and Seán smiled at him.

"Language Potion. We're in an place with plenty of people speaking Irish. It'll be more effective here. Tonight watch some cartoons on TG4 or something while reading through your Irish books, tomorrow the potion will have completely allowed all words you heard to be translated and left in your head. You'll be able to speak the language as if you were raised with it."

Harry quickly drank downed the pumpkin juice.

After their meal, Seán took them to get Harry his school uniform, consisting of a blue shirt, a black jumper with the school crest, a black tie and pair of dress trousers and shoes. They also got him some more non-magical clothes, some new pajamas, some dress robe for formal events and a pair of dragon hide gloves for his science and potions class.

The next visit they made was to a pet shop, where Harry got a snowy owl for post deliveries, whom he named Hedwig after an author who wrote one of his schoolbooks.

They made their way to the athropecary, so that Harry could get his potion supplies and a copper cauldron ("Most schools, Harry, would want you to buy a pewter one, but those explode to easily and at Junior Cert level potions, it doesn't really matter.").

Eventually, they reached their last stop, right outside "O'Connell's Staffs and Wands". The shop had different wands and staff of all sizes and shapes in the window, and had a sign below the first one reading "Making wands and staffs since 1000 A.D".

'That's a pretty long time,' Harry thought to himself as he walked inside and the door chimed.

* * *

When they walked in nobody was behind the counter, confusing Harry somewhat, although from what he could see behind the counter wasn't much, as Harry wasn't that tall himself, it looked quite like a carpenters workshop.

"A Aidán, a chara," called Seán almost instantly. "Cá bhfuil tú?"

A man appeared from a door in the workshop leading of to God knows where. He had dark brown hair that stuck up all over the place, with eyes to match and was wearing a plain shirt, with his sleeves rolled up and an aprain that seemed to be quite old. He had a belt around his waist too, that held different tools of all shapes and sizes.

"A Seán!" The man said happily as walked out to meet them. "Conas atá tú?"

"Tá mé go maith agus tú féin?"

"Tá me go hiontach. Fuair Killian a litir ar maidin." Seán smiled.

"An-maith. Tá brón orm, ach ní thuigeann na buachaillí Gaeilge." The man looked over at them and smiled apologetically.

"Ah, sorry lads. I didn't know." he turned back to Seán. "Are the two of them here for their wand and staff? They both look a little young."

"No, Dudley is a mundane, Harry is however. He's skipping a year and heading to the school a year early." Everyone looked confused at that statement until Seán clarified. "He finished English primary school last year, meaning he's going to skip a year and will be going to the Academy sooner than most." The man nodded and turned to Harry.

"Alright then lad. My names Aidan O'Connell, and I'm a master wand and staff maker. I'm going to measure your height to figure out the ideal length for both your wand and staff, and then we'll begin alright?" Harry nodded and Aidan went to get a measuring tape.

He returned quickly and walked out through a gap in the counter to measure Harry using a yellow measuring tape.

"So, looking forward to school Harry?" He asked as he knelt beside him and took note of his height in a small note pad.

"Yes sir." the man was quickly up again and looking for something out in the back of the shop to get something.

"That's good to hear. Know what subjects you're taking?" the man asked when he returned holding some very large pieces of wood, about the same height as Harry.

"Yes-" Harry proceeded to list his subject choices as the man placed 4 different pieces of wood on a table in the shop.

"I took Ancient Runes too. Rather interesting in my opinion, but not for everyone. Come back here now Harry, we need to see which wood suits you."

Harry glanced at Dudley and Seán, who both nodded at him, so they went into the back of the shop.

"Good lad, now place your writing hand over every piece of wood until it feels warm." Harry did so, but when he touched the second one a rush of warmth ran through him.

"Oak, interesting." the man quickly put away all other pieces of wood and came back with about 15 other pieces of wood, this time much shorter. "Again please."

Harry repeated the process until number 7, when he again felt the warmth.

"Fir, you are rather interesting lad Harry." Again, the wood was taken away and he was left with 5 jars left in front of him.

"Place your hand on the lid, if you feel a reaction that will be your wand core."

Harry place his hand on the first jar and felt an immediate reaction.

"You are getting more and more interesting young man." was the only comment the wandmaker made, though Harry thought he sounded amused.

"And once more please."

Harry again placed his hand over multiple jars and eventually got another reaction.

The man gave Harry an awed look for a moment. "You're a parselmouth?"

"A what?" Harry asked bewildered.

"Can talk to snakes?" the man clarified and Harry nodded.

"I thought it was a normal thing..." he trailed of.

"Don't be ashamed boy, that's a gift that is. Be glad you don't live in England, they hate Parselmouths." Aidan snorted. "Idiots the lot of them. In Ireland however? The trait is very rare, but religious folk love them. Saint Patrick and all that."

The wandmaker took away everything again and returned with a 5 different stones and left them in front of Harry, who didn't even wait to be told what to do that time before trying all of them. He held up the last, bright green stone and felt the warmth again. Aidan smiled and took it off him, telling Harry to go wait out in the front and he would return shortly with his wand and his staff. And return he did.

"18cm, fir and with a thunderbird tail feather for it's core," Aidan said as he handed Harry his wand and Seán gave him a look of surprise. Apparently that wasn't a common combination.

As Harry had it place into his hand, it let out sparks of yellow, green and blue.

Aidan then pulled out a staff with runes noticeable on the side, with a green gem at the top, looking like the staff had grown around it.

"145cm, oak wood, duel core of thunderbird feather and horned serpent horn and a focus of an emerald." He handed it over to Harry and winked at him.

"I think we can all expect great things from you lad, those two cores are as stubborn as they come." he took the wand off Harry and placed it in a box, and place that inside a paper bag. Then he took the staff and simply said shrink, and it transformed into a small pendant. He told Harry that whenever he wanted it just say grow and it would grow to full height in his hand.

Harry placed the pendent around his neck, payed for his wand, holster and staff, and left the kind mans shop to go home.

In the end they got home around 5:30 p.m, around an hour before Vernon got home and had time to tell Petunia all about their trip. Harry then spent the rest of his night reading in the living room while TG4 played in the background.

* * *

 **A.N: And so a chapter ends. God this was a lot longer than I thought it was going to be, next chapter will probably be either Harry's first year or at list his first term. Also, TG4 is an Irish tv station that has shows in Irish and dubs cartoons in it. Here is a translation of that conversation at the shop.**

 **S: Aidan, my friend. Where are you?**

 **A: Seán! How are you?**

 **S: I'm good, and yourself?**

 **A: I'm excellent! Killian got his letter this morning.**

 **S: Very good! Sorry, but the boys don't understand Irish.**

 **And that was what little Irish I am capable of speaking outside of school, so on that note I'll see you all next time.**


	3. The Summer Days

**A.N: Sup people? This is kind of an interlude I guess but not really. Anybody reading this story feel free to comment possible names because I'm honestly terrible at them. And a few OC's if you want to get involved. I've come up with a few but it's always nice to fill out the story/world a bit more. After this gets updated I'm gonna work on that Hamlet chapter that's been taking me forever and a day to write so it'll probably be out soon. Look forward that. -Megan**

* * *

 **The Summer Days**

Harry Potter was excited, very very excited. Who wouldn't be? He was going to a school of magic!

The young boy had spent the remainder of his summer either reading his school books when his Uncle was away, or outside playing games with the other children. He did, however become quite confused at some terms mentioned in his books such as O.W.L's or N.E.W.T and had to quietly ask his aunt what they meant.

Unsurprisingly she didn't know much about them but could tell him that about what she remembered, which admittedly wasn't much, O.W.L's are like G.C.S.E's and N.E.W.T's are like A-Levels. That conversation then turned into her explaining as much as she knew about wizarding schooling and the Irish education system, she didn't want her nephew feeling as clueless as her sister did when school starts up. She told him stories about Hogwarts and their subject choices that Lily had shared in letters to home and gave him a book talking about schools in Ireland, boarding schools in particular, that explained the mundane subjects that can be taken for both the junior and leaving cert (The Irish equivalents of G.C.S.E's and A-Levels respectively) and told him about the school that Dudley would be leaving for the same day as Harry, " Saint Josephs Secondary School".

* * *

Three events stood out in Harrys' memory of the summer after meeting Seán, the first taking place only the day after buying his school supplies.

Harry started getting letters in the post from the Hogwarts addressed to;

 _Harry Potter,_

 _3rd Bedroom at the back of the house,_

 _25 Oak Lane_

 _Blackpool_

 _Ireland_

When the first letter came he was pretty startled by the fact that Hogwarts knew his exact location. His aunt quickly told him not to worry, her sister got an almost identical one although hers was delivered by a professor. Harry decided it would be best to write a short, polite response and then send it of with Hedwig. The next day however more letters came, and the next came more, and again, and again until on his birthday the last straw happened.

Harry had stayed up later than usual with his family to watch a movie, it was his birthday after all, when he was distracted from Peter Pan by a loud knocking at the door. He looked at his relatives with a confused look, only for them to return it. Who on earth was here at this hour?

Vernon Dursley stood up and told them all to stay there while he talked to the person at the door.

Harry would later say that while he couldn't make out the person talking to his uncle or what they where talking about, it did make his face turn an interesting shade of purple. Eventually the man left and they continued watching the movie, but the mystery surrounding the strange visitor made Harry have a rather sleepless night, although the letters did stop coming and the man never returned.

* * *

The second memory was not as interesting as it was just him writing a letter to Gringotts to ask for a barrister and information regarding his vaults, such as how large they are, who has access to them and any money that has been withdrawn in the past 10 or so years, and if he had any properties.

He got his reply rather quickly and was given a list of barristers to write to about the case, all of whom had brilliant records and would guarantee him success in court. The second piece of information however made his eyes bulge when he saw how many zeros were present beside his balance. He could not work a single day in his life until his death and barely make a dent in it.

He was glad to see that currently only himself and Seán, as his magical guardian, had access to his trust vault and only Harry had access to the family vault. He frowned when he noticed that a man called Albus Dumbledore, a name that rang a bell in his mind, was listed as attempting numerous times to take money from his trust vault without proof of being his magical guardian.

As he read his eyes widened as he read the amount of properties:

 _Potter Manor, England (Unplottable, Head of Family authorisation required for entry.)_

 _House in Godric's Hallow (Currently under Ministry Control, Fidelius active)_

 _Potter Island, Coast of Wales (Unplottable, Anti-Muggle Wards, Head of Family authorisation required for entry, filled with magical creatures)_

 _Black Villa, Roman Countryside (Head of Family authorisation required for entry)_

 _4th floor apartment, Dublin (Head of Family authorisation required for entry, Anti-Apporation wards)_

 _Potter Castle, North-east of Ireland (Head of Family authorisation required for entry, Anti-Apporation wards, Unplottable, Anti-Muggle wards.)_

 _Hunting Cabin, Scotland (No wards in place.)_

He knew how he would be spending next summer alright, visiting all these properties, see what shape their in and probably take a holiday to Rome at some point.

* * *

The third memory takes place on the 28th of August, two days before Harry was due to start at Acadamh na hÉireann le Draíocht. He was reading a book at the kitchen table when he heard the doorbell ring.

"I'll get it!" He called as he placed his book mark inside the book and walked out to answer the door.

When he opened it a man wearing what Harry recognised as a postman's uniform, smiled at him.

"Hello, is there a," he paused to look at a medium sized box that Harry had previously not noticed him carrying. "Harry Potter in this house?"

"Yes, sir. Thats me." Harry replied and the man handed him a pen and form.

"Please sign that box there kid." Harry did. "Here you go, have a good day."

The man handed Harry the box and left, leaving Harry standing in the corridor alone holding the strange package.

Harry ran upstairs to open it in his room, and when he did he was very confused. The package contained a black fedora with a note attached onto the it from Seán simply saying that it was a portkey and at 9:30 a.m in two days to put it on the hat and say the phrase "Shamrock Hills" and he would be transported to the school. Harry found the whole thing quite odd but decided to trust his Principle on this, he hadn't lied to him yet.

A few days later, after bidding Petunia, Vernon and Dudley goodbye Harry picked up the trunk he bought in Erin's Avenue and walked out the door, his fedora in the other hand. He turned a corner and walked behind a bush and, after making sure nobody was around called out the phrase "Shamrock Hills", disappearing in less than a second.

* * *

Albus Dumbledore was not having a good time, not at all. There was numerous reasons for this of course but it all boiled down to one boy, Harry Potter.

It started when he got an urgent floo-call from the squib on private drive. The Dursleys had left for Ireland. The wards didn't move with them.

If she had told him earlier he may have been able to stop them but she had been away, visiting some sick cousin in Wales apparently.

Then as he was wondering what he could do to try and fix the situation, a letter from the boy himself arrived, rejecting his place at Hogwarts. At first he thought it was a joke or that the boy was ignorant of his magic, like he'd requested Petunia to raise him, but no. The boy knew of magic and he was serious.

 _Dear Whomever it may concern,_

 _While I am thankful for the offer I am sorry to say I have no intention at studying at Hogwarts. I have already accepted a place at a different school that offers a much broader curriculum and while I'm sure that I would have enjoyed life at Hogwarts as my parents did, I'm sure that this is the right decision._

 _Yours sincerely,_

 _Harry James Potter_

Oh Merlin, Albus thought, How am I meant to explain this one. The Boy-Who-Lived not coming to Hogwarts? Un-imaginable.

He assumed he must have been visited by Seán Rafferty, the sneaky devil. That man has eyes and ears all over Ireland. He always knew about any potential students in Ireland. Recently he'd also started to steal the brightest students coming to Hogwarts, although mainly Scottish ones for reasons unknown to him, and a select few from Australia and the rest of Europe. Privately, he agreed with Harry. Rafferty ran his school with an iron first. He kept bulling from escalating past a few cases of name calling most of the time, had a broad curriculum, allowed clubs to be formed by whoever wanted one so long as they could get backing by a teacher and at least 10 students, gave plenty of free time and trips away and allowed non-wizards to attend the school. He'd been trying to do that for years but had barely put forward any of his ideas only to have them rejected by the mainly pure-blood Board of Governors.

Now he was going to have to explain to everyone why Harry Potter wasn't coming. Actually, maybe he could send Hagrid? If not to get Harry to come to Hogwarts then at least to pass on that he wished him the best in life.

Oh he knew that Harry would need to return to England one day, there was no why that Voldemort was killed permanently by a baby after all, but at least he went to the Irish school he'd be strong, powerful and have had a happy childhood. Still, he'd send Hagrid, that way Fudge couldn't say he didn't try, not that he couldn't have tried harder but still.

* * *

Well that was a definite no then, Albus thought as he leaned back on his chair listening to the half-giant before him. Now, how will he tell people?

Not calling his name out during the sorting seemed good enough, and when people asked why he didn't tell anyone he would just say that it isn't anyone's business where decides to go to school. Not that that would keep everyone from freaking out but he wouldn't tell everyone were the poor boy was. Although he should probably arrange a meeting with Seán to come up with a lie to tell people. It may help slow down the boy being discovered by, oh, a month maybe? If they manage to forge some files too that drag it out maybe 2 months but that was all they had, he'd better get started straight away.


	4. A New Beginning

**A.N: Right it's been awhile but hello people of the internet. In relation to the last chapter I will answer some questions. Someone asked what I meant when I said that Harry skipped a year. In Ireland students stat primary school at four, go into secondary at 12 and finish school around the age of 17/18 depending on if you do an optional year usually just called T.Y that I've made mandatory in this fictional school. In England you start school at 4, go to secondary at 11 and leave school at 17. That would make Harry a year younger than most of the students but seeing as he would have got pretty much the same education at that stage that most Irish students at twelve have (mainly because that extra year is really just to adjust to the idea of secondary school and to make your conformation), he would probably be allowed skip a year. A few terms in this chapter have * symbol beside them. I'll explain the terms at the bottom of the chapter.**

 **Also for some reason there is a glitch were, as I was reminded by A Small Voice, names don't show up in some lines so in order here are the missing names/end of sentences:**

 **Lily, Ms Murphy, Mr Rafferty, Ms Burne**

* * *

 **A New** **Beginning**

Seán Rafferty sighed as he waited for Albus Dumbledore to arrive in his office. He knew how this was going to go: Albus would have some argument about how Harry should go to his parents school, he'd argue against it, Albus would be stubborn and claim guardianship, he'd show Harry's guardianship papers, Dumbledore would leave in a huff. Yes, he thought as he took a sip at his tea, he was not looking forward to this.

Just as he thought that a loud _pop_ brought his attention to an aged, oddly dressed man.

"Seán," he greeted as he sat down in the other avalible desk.

"Albus," Seán nodded. "I assume you're here about Harry?"

"Yes although probably not for the reason you think."

"Really?" The Irish man raised an eyebrow.

"I'm content to let Harry attend your school, on the condition that you prepare him for Voldemort's return."

"First off he doesn't need your permission, second what's this about Voldemort's return?"

"Oh come on Seán, you know as well as I do that there is no way Voldemort died that night," the old man told him with a serious look on his face. "After all, how would one of the greatest dark wizards of all time get taken out by a baby?"

"Oh, I don't know," he put his hand on his chin, continuing in a mocking tone. "Druidic protective rituals, japanese strength and protection runes, norse runes calling for the protection of an innocent child. Runes and rituals basically. was a smart woman, I'm sure she did something. All good parents would go to any lengths to protect their child, after all."

"I'm sure she did but that's not what I was referring to. I was talking about something Voldemort did, there is no way he wasn't prepared for the worst possible situation."

"There isn't anything he could have done to survived that," Seán rolled his eyes. "Unless you know some way he could."

Albus blinked and shook his head. "No...no I guess not...What did you mean earlier when you said Harry didn't need my permission to go here?"

Seán checked his watch. "Oh would you look at the time, I'm late for a meeting with the Taoiseach*. He wanted to talk to me about the squib situation. See you later Albus." He smiled at his fellow headmaster and disapperated. He made it to the meeting just in time.

At said meeting, lots of decisions got made. The school was discussed and it's students, updates on files got made, and when Seán told the Taoiseach about the meeting he had with Dumbledore, the ruler frowned.

"I'll have the Guards start an investigation, Dumbledore is clearly hiding something. You mentioned something about about attempted theft of the Potter vault in your letter, that's more than enough reason to start one."

* * *

Harry nearly fell on his face when he landed, but was saved from that fate by a set of hands. He looked up to see a sandy haired boy with blue eyes giving him a smile.

"Steady mate. First time with a port key?" the boy asked him and Harry nodded.

"Yeah, thanks." Harry replied as he straightened himself.

"My names Seamus Finnegan. What's yours?"

"Harry. Harry Potter." Seamus' eyes widened.

"Like _the_ Harry Potter?"

"I guess?" Harry didn't know how to feel about the direction the conversation was taking. Seamus seemed to notice his discomfort and promptly apologised.

"Sorry, it's just...I thought you were going to Hogwarts like your parents. Actually most people do." Harry waved his apology off and shook his head.

"It's fine." The pair fell silent for a moment and Harry took the opportunity to look around at his surroundings.

He was standing inside a large set of iron gates, at the base of a rather tall hill. Atop the hill was a large brick building, that he assumed was the school, with various wings off of the side. He could also make out gold hoops sticking out from behind the school. About half way up the hill he could see greenhouses filled with plants. He also noticed the 40 other children standing around with their trunks talking among themselves, and a woman he had never seen before making his way towards them.

She was short with shoulder length brown hair, and had black round glasses that made her eyes look big.

"Hello, I'm , the deputy principal. I'm here to give you a tour and give you your timetables." She smiled at them and gestured for the children to follow her up the hill and into the school.

She led them up the tall (unnecessarily tall in Harry's opinion) hill and to a large wooden door.

"Stay close and pay attention, while older students and staff will help you out if you get lost, it's for the better to learn the layout of the grounds as soon as possible." She smiled once more and pushed open the door.

She led them through the grounds and showed them everything, where the principle and deputy principles class was, the large library with books ranging from magic to Shakespeare to a copy of "To Kill A Mocking Bird", the small computer room they had, the gym, the classrooms and the assembly hall. She showed them the science labs and home ec rooms, the greenhouses filled with exotic plants and, most importantly, she showed them the cafeteria and the dorms.

The cafeteria was large with lots of table and benches, although Harry did notice that there didn't seem to be anywhere to get food.

"I heard that that there are elves in the kitchen who serve the food every day," Seamus informed him and Harry nodded, still a bit confused. Why would a school have elves in the kitchen? Didn't they make toys or something? Or if they were more Lord of the Rings kind of elves, why would they be there at all? He resolved to read about it later.

The Dorms were on separate ends of the school, boys on the right, girls on the left. Each year group had about four rooms between the students, arranged in a way that meant that five students could share the room, though each room only had two bunk beds.

"Now, I know you're probably worn out," commented as she showed the boys the rooms. "So I'll quickly tell you your room number, and remind you that lunch is in two hours. At lunch the Principle will go over the school rules, any questions you may have and introduce you to your teachers." She gave them all a smile. "So, in the first room it's Killian O'Connell, Harry Potter, Seamus Finnegan and John Kierans. In the second ro-"

Seamus gave Harry a bright smile at the announcement and pulled him over to the rooms door. The rest of the boys seemed a bit shocked at the name 'Harry Potter' but let quickly got over their shock.

Two other students came over from the rushing over to join them at the door before they had a chance to open it. Harry assumed they were his roommates for the next six years.

The first boy was short, very short actually, with long nimble fingers and a wild look in his eyes. He had brown hair that was pulled back in a ponytail and bright blue eyes. The other boy had ginger hair that was short and spiky, and looked like a giant beside the other one.

"Wait for us," said the short one as they approached the duo.

"My names Killian," nodded the ginger boy and he pointed at his companion. "That's John."

"I'm Harry. Harry Potter."

Killian smiled slightly but otherwise didn't react to the name. "And your Seamus then?"

"Uhuh," Seamus hummed and he put his hand on the door handle. "I dibs top bunk." he yelled as he pulled open the door.

"Then I get the second one!" came John's voice and Killian and Harry exchanged looks. Was the fight with the other two really worth it?

"Two chocolate frogs says that we can over power Seamus." Killian said and Harry grinned. He had a feeling that he would like it here.

* * *

At lunch the new friends all sat together and joked as they ate their food. Seamus explained the elf comment from earlier and he was proven correct when food seemingly appeared out of nowhere right on time for lunch.

Harry learned more about his new friends too. Seamus was a so-called half-blood, and Harry vaguely recalled his aunt telling him about different blood status' in the wizarding world. He was originally going to go to Hogwarts but when his muggle father heard about the Irish school he was determined to send his son there. It was much closer to home after all, and had a better curriculum which let him explore his non-magical heritage just as much as his magical one.

Killian was a pureblood from an old Irish line, although as he said most Irish people didn't care who your parents line so long as you weren't "a huge dick". He said that when his dad retired, he'd probably take over the wand shop though his younger sister Niamh* also had an interest in wand making so they might run it together.

John was a funny guy, who seemed to have a knack for mischief and mayhem as proven by the fact that he turned one their yearmates hair purple only minutes into lunch time after they had dared ask him why he was so short. Afterwards John cheerfully informed them that he was half-leprechaun and if they didn't want to be on his prank list, to "-not be a huge bigot about it".

After the students had all gotten a chance to eat showed up and went through the school rules and gave them out their timetables.

"I would like to remind you all that in our school we hold our students up to very high standards. I expect you to try your hardest and to see to it that your fellow students are as well. In this school we have a student guide system, were a student in sixth year will be assigned to a group of first years and yours will teach you how to get around the school, help you settle in and help you create a study timetable that suits you. They will meet with you once a week and please tell them of any problems you encounter, it's their job to look out for you. Each year group had a different year head that you can go to for help or just a friendly chat. Your year heard is , the Potions teacher for any of you taking that subject." the man paused and gestured to the woman standing on his right who gave them all a happy smile.

"It's nice to meet you all, dears. My door is always open to students if you need anything. I hope to see some of you in my Potions class, or even join the football team. I'm the assistant coach, although don't expect any favouritism from me."

There was silence for a moment before introduce the rest of the teachers, like the Japanese teacher from Tokyo who was also the Quidditch instructor. Or Ms. O'Sullivan who was the history teacher who also taught the karate class (Seamus found that amusing for some reason).

After lunch John challenged them all to a game of basketball, claiming he'd run circles around all of them. Killian laughed and accepted, telling Harry that he probably would. Before long, other yearmates had joined them and the teams grew to have 6 on one side with 5 on the other. When Seamus' team lost, he complained that it was unfair anyway despite that fact that his side had more Harry pointed that out the other boy grumbled.

"Yes well you had John on your side Harry. Honestly that guy should count as at _least_ five players."

As Harry laughed he remembered his earlier internal comment. Yes, he was definitely going to like it here.

* * *

 **1\. Taoiseach = The leader of the Irish Government.**

 **2\. Niamh = Traditional Irish name pronounced like "Nee-uv"**


End file.
